DDT-Like Pesticides (Organochlorines)

At A Glance

Once heralded as a potent check to the spread of disease and crop-destruction by insects, DDT was sprayed indiscriminately in the 1940s through the 1960s. A burgeoning environmental movement succeeded in getting DDT's use banned in the U.S., but similarly toxic pesticides in the same chemical family are used on our food to this day.

Background

DDT is perhaps the most notorious pesticide ever used in the United States. First developed in the late 1930s, DDT quickly gained favor as an insecticide (insect-killer) for its broad toxicity and its persistence on crops. Its uses even extended to delousing U.S. soldiers during World War II and controlling neighborhood mosquitoes.

But DDT's "assets" were not viewed as such by everyone. Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," first published in 1962, revealed the terrible effects that DDT and other pesticides were having on wildlife. (Not surprisingly, DDT's broad toxicity meant it was harmful to more than just the insects it was intended to control.) Rising concern over DDT's toxicity and continued use ultimately led the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban it in 1972.

While the story may appear to end there, the truth is that some pesticides similar to DDT are still approved by the EPA for use on farms across the U.S. DDT is part of the organochlorine family of pesticides, which are known for persisting in the environment long after they are applied and contaminating food chains. More than that, some organochlorines travel long distances in the air and water and eventually end up in places far from where they were used.

Health Impacts

Endosulfan is one of the most commonly used organochlorine pesticides today. Like DDT, endosulfan is toxic and persistent. Acute exposure to endosulfan can lead to a range of serious health problems, including difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting, brain damage, coma, and death. Additionally, endosulfan has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer and miscarriage as well as developmental problems in young children. A study found that children exposed to endosulfan when they were fetuses had a significantly higher incidence of autism.

Once released into the environment, the spread of endosulfan is hard to control. It is carried far and wide by wind and water currents and has been detected in remote Sierra Nevada lakes, portions of the Arctic, and even Mt. Everest. Closer to home, endosulfan's uncanny mobility is a serious threat to humans and wildlife. If fish aren't killed outright by endosulfan contamination of waterways, the poison accumulates in their fatty tissues and is passed up the food chain, threatening many species from polar bears to the humans that eat the fish.

Despite these serious risks -- not to mention the fact that endosulfan has been found in our food supplies, drinking water, and the tissues and breast milk of pregnant mothers -- the EPA continues to allow endosulfan to be used in the U.S while the rest of the world is turning away from it. Endosulfan has been banned or severely restricted in many countries, and it is under consideration for addition to the Stockholm Convention, a treaty banning persistent organic pollutants, which would prohibit its use in 131 nations (the U.S. has unfortunately not ratified the treaty).

Usage

EPA allows endosulfan to be used on a wide variety of crops, including: apples, cotton, cucumbers, lettuce, melons, pears, squash, tobacco, and tomatoes.

Our Work

The Environmental Protection Agency's own analysis of endosulfan found that the pesticide poses serious risks to humans but provides only minimal benefits to growers. Earthjustice filed suit in federal court against the EPA in July 2008 on behalf of a broad coalition of farmworker, public health, and environmental groups to stop the continued use of the pesticide. The risks to farmworkers, children, and wildlife are simply too serious for EPA to allow continued use of endosulfan.

Nerve Gases

At A Glance

Nerve gas pesticides, the descendants of chemical weapons developed in World War II, are the most heavily-used family of insect-killers in the United States.

Backgrounder

Some of the pesticides most commonly used in the United States -- known as organophosphates -- are derived from nerve gas that the Nazis developed during World War II. After the war, German and American companies tailored them for commercial use to combat crop-killing insects. The EPA approved many organophosphate pesticides in the 1950s and 60s, before health and environmental standards were in place. Today, roughly 70% of insecticides used in the U.S. are organophosphate pesticides.

Health Impacts

The toxicity of nerve gas pesticides is not surprising given their notorious origins. They kill farm pests by disrupting their nervous system, and they can do the same to people and wildlife. As the nervous system goes haywire following exposure to an organophosphate pesticide, one may experience splitting headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, uncontrollable sweats, blurry vision, and dizziness. In severe cases, exposure can result in tremors, unconsciousness, paralysis, coma, and death.

In addition to nervous system impairment, the nerve gas pesticides can cause other types of health problems. For example, diazinon -- actively used since 1956 -- has been linked to liver and pancreatic damage, diabetes, and non-Hodgkins lymphoma (a type of cancer). It is also the most common insecticide found in surface waters and has led to numerous bird and fish kills as a result. Another common organophosphate, chlorpyrifos, has been linked to impaired brain development and behavioral issues in children even at low levels of exposure.

Due mostly to their hazardous effects on children, EPA no longer allows most residential uses of diazinon and chlorpyrifos. Both pesticides, however, remain approved for farm use which means they can still poison the children of farmworkers by drifting into nearby homes, schoolyards, and playgrounds. Children of farmworkers can also be at risk when their parents bring home pesticide residues on their clothing and skin.

Usage

Azinphos-methyl (AZM) is used to kill insects on crops including apples, cherries, pears, blueberries, and parsley.

Chlorpyrifos is used on a variety of crops, including corn, apples, cotton, citrus fruit, soybeans, pecans, and tobacco.

Diazinon is used on a wide variety of crops, including almonds, apples, blueberries, broccoli, cherries, cranberries, lettuce, onions, peaches, pears, plums and prunes, potatoes, spinach, and tomatoes.

Our Work

Earthjustice is working through the courts to compel the EPA to phase out the use of most toxic organophosphate pesticides. In 2006, following an Earthjustice lawsuit, the EPA agreed to phase out AZM because of risks to farmworkers and children, and it ordered buffers around homes, schools, hospitals, day cares, and parks to protect against pesticide drift. Their timetable, unfortunately, was a phase-out by 2012 (with a possible extension or reversal of the phase-out decision along the way). Earthjustice challenged the EPA's decision in early 2007 on the grounds that six years of continued use will lead to more poisonings of farmworkers and their families and that a faster withdrawal is both possible and necessary.

Earthjustice is also working to achieve a phase-out of chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and four additional organophosphate pesticides that the EPA has kept on the market despite well-documented dangers to children and farmworkers.

Fumigants

At A Glance

These toxic gaseous pesticides are typically injected in soil to sterilize fields before planting begins. But the gases often waft into the air and drift over farms and neighborhoods, exposing people and animals to dangerous toxins linked to serious respiratory ailments.

Background

Fumigants are a family of toxic gaseous pesticides. In agriculture, fumigants are used to sterilize soil before planting crops and to treat stored food, including imported goods. Due to their gaseous state, fumigants are applied in much higher amounts than conventional liquid pesticides (and they are also very acutely toxic). They pose substantial risks to farmworkers and nearby communities. Roughly 10% of the pesticides used in the U.S. are fumigants.

Fumigants used in the U.S. include methyl iodide, chloropicrin, and metam sodium. The use of methyl bromide, a notorious fumigant, was severely restricted by the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement that phased out many compounds responsible for depletion of the ozone layer. The U.S., however, succeeded in gaining some exemptions for "critical uses" of the compound, and application of methyl bromide continues to this day.

Health Impacts

Though most fumigants in the U.S. cause irritation of the skin, eyes, nose, and respiratory tract, along with headache, diarrhea, and dizziness, each fumigant can lead to unique health problems. Exposure to methyl bromide, for example, can lead to seizures, impaired brain and muscular function, and a form of asthma. Other fumigants like methyl iodide have been linked to increased incidence of particular types of cancer.

Fumigants injected into the soil or greenhouses can escape into the atmosphere, threatening the health of nearby communities. Some fumigants will even react with air and sunlight to form ground-level ozone, a type of air pollution linked to asthma and other chronic respiratory diseases.

Usage

Methyl bromide is used primarily on tomatoes, strawberries, and bell peppers, though other crops are sprayed as well.

Note: Methyl iodide has been approved by the EPA for use as a replacement for methyl bromide, despite methyl iodide's substantial health impacts.

Metam sodium is used heavily on potatoes, though carrots, tomatoes, onions, and other crops are sprayed as well.

Chloropicrin is used on crops including tobacco, strawberries, tomatoes, and bell peppers.

Our Work

The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of evaluating all fumigant pesticides for re-registration. Earthjustice is monitoring the process to ensure the EPA takes the health of our communities into consideration when approving fumigants for use. Check back for more information as our work develops.